Spring through summer, yellow jackets (a species of wasp, not a bee) bring insects, meat and fish to feed larvae in their rapidly growing colony. The larvae in turn give off a sweet nectar that fuels and satisfies the adults. By late summer or early September, the larvae are all grown and the result is about 5,000 hungry adults. Without the larval love juice, an occasional flower nectar or sip of tree sap is no longer enough to fuel their full-flight metabolisms. They are looking for meat and sugar, which is why they are common pests at summer’s end picnics.
Slow movements prevent annoying and frightening the swarming jacks, and the occasional well-aimed flick gets rid of the most curious. This season, however, the wasps seem to be arriving earlier, and they are voracious and insistent. Today one landed on the bridge of my sunglasses, while both hands were busy, natch. We’ve seen swollen lips, ears, faces, and fingers from the angry stings of yellow jackets. Once, a jack was hiding inside the handle of the crushpad pallet-jack and when I squeezed the handle to pump it up I got stung. They also hide under the lever of the hose sprayer, under tank handles, and under the forklift pedals.
On the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, a yellow jacket sting is a respectable 2.0: "Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. ImagineW. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue. "